


How to Steal a Mask

by therainbowwitch



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cafe Leblanc (Persona 5), Coming Out, Eventual Relationships, F/F, Gen, M/M, My First Work in This Fandom, One Year Later, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Time Skip, Tags May Change, Texting, be gay do crime, futaba is sister material and no you can't stop me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-25
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-10-28 05:40:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20773454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/therainbowwitch/pseuds/therainbowwitch
Summary: [DISCONTINUED WILL BE REWRITTEN]





	1. Chapter 1

It’s the middle of the night when Akira wakes up, he could’ve sworn he’d gotten rid of this habit but yet here he is. A buzzing from the phone lights up his screen and eventually his ceiling. Reaching over to unplug his phone, careful not to wake Morgana who despite having a cat bed refuses to sleep in it, and opens the screen to reveal a message from Ryuji, Akira best friend. Or at least he was.

It’d been well over a year ago now since Akira was pretty sure he and the other Phantom Thieves had killed God using Satan, various other Persona’s, and the angry will of seven teenagers. And since then things had been back to normal, as normal as things could be. Akira had gone home for the summer before deciding he’d much prefer to finish highschool back at Sojiro’s place. After some convincing from both sides his parents had agreed, and promised they would come to visit from time to time, so long as he came to visit them as well. With the agreement in place Akira was back in the attic, but now he was in the closet.

See God was straight up fucking with him, first by making Arsene vanish, along with everyone else’s access to the Metaverse and Persona’s, but also by doing so Akira had a lot of time to think. Think about relationships, think about romance. It was no secret now since Ann had come out just before school, asked out Shiho, and was thriving in a supportive environment that she had time to think about romance as well. And now staring at the message from Ryuji, Akira was thinking long and hard about a certain best friend he didn’t quite see as a friend anymore. 

The message simply read as “Hey dude! :)” and while normally before Akira would have questioned why his vulgar friend was up at this hour, his mind drifted to anything else. How strong Ryuji is, to how loyal he was, and the way he talks about his mother was just perfect, he is a perfect friend. So why did Akira want more than that? He knew the answer, but hadn’t found the right way to say it yet.

Not really thinking he types out a “Hey what’s up?” before covering his face, which now burned red in the darkness of the attic of Leblanc. Mumbling small nothings into his face which now stirred Morgana awake, the cat held an annoyed look as he observed Akira for a few moments before trotting over to sit on his stomach, looking at him.  
“Do I want to know why you’re awake the night before a test?” the cat asked, resting a paw over its other, looking at Akira with a face one could only describe as a threat. Akira gave a sheepish smile before shrugging in bed. Another buzz from his cellphone gave him away. The mischievous cat gave a snicker and Akira’s face only burned brighter as he checked it.

“I was thinking, it’s been awhile since the 2 of us just hung out, i’ve been busy with the cooking club and Ann wanting me to model part time has me all wrapped up. I’m thinking we hang out this friday after school! How’s that sound?” Akira stared at the message, then looked at Morgana who still held the same expression, with a slight smirk curving up, if a cat could smirk. 

“I’d love that! I’ll meet you outside after school.” And sent, wait no why did he say love. He facepalmed himself for that one, and that is when Morgana let out a laugh.  
“You know, I figured after Lady Ann came out you’d follow right up. But at this rate it’s gonna take Ryuji asking you on a date or to a dance for it to get it through your skull.” the cat laughed, shaking his head before laying his head back down and going back to sleep, but without one more remark.

“You really need to get to sleep though, history is your worst subject.” Akira rolled his eyes, going to plug in his phone again, he’d wasted at least thirty minutes having a gay panic over messages. But then Ryuji had to send his last one for the night.

“It’s a date then.”

\-----

The next morning was a whirlwind, waking up to Morgana shouting that he’d missed his alarm, running out of Leblanc without breakfast which he would regret later, getting a stern yelling from Sojiro as he ran out, and just barely catching his train to Shujin Academy. The train gave Akira some time to calm down from the rush and take a breather. Morgana was idly relaxing in his bag, and Akira was pushed up towards the middle of the train, just barely able to see the windows each time. He’d gotten a bit taller over the summer which helped but not much. Giving in to his fate he allowed the push and pull of the train to take over, zoning out.

“Joker.” Was the whisper that called to him, snapping him out of his zoned out state as he looked around to try and spot who had called him. It hadn’t sounded like any of his friends, as they still periodically called each other their code names...so then who? He would get no answers as his stop approached and he got off the train, starting to head over to the bakery to go meet with Ann and Ryuji to walk to school.  
\---

Ann stood outside the bakery with Ryuji, already having scarfed down her own chocolate croissant she was pleading with Ryuji to give his to her.  
“No way! I bought mine fair and square this time!” Ryuji argued, holding the bag above his head. Ann huffed, still reaching for it.

“C’mon! You’re already a good cook just bake another one!” She whined, jumping up to try and snatch it, to which Ryuji backed away quickly, laughing. The two had gotten closer as friends since their time as Phantom Thieves had ended. Ann had jokingly asked him to come along one day to her modeling shoots and Ryuji wanting to be a good friend had tagged along. Turns out Ryuji was a pretty good model, given he had directions, and with Ann’s permission the two of them had featured together in a fashion magazine. Ryuji’s mother had certainly been in shock when she spotted her son and his friend as she was grabbing groceries that following week.

As the two blondes continued their cat and mouse chase Ann spotted Akira and stopped, waving him over. Their glasses wearing leader had waved back and joined up with them.

“Hey man, good to see you two.” Ryuji said, handing Akira his normal pastry as Morgana poked his head out from the backpack, looking at the former Phantom Thieves.  
“Ooh! Did you get anything for me?” Morgana asked, tail flailing excitedly. Ann and Ryuji laughed, causing Morgana to sulk for just a moment as Ryuji opened his own bag to pull off a bit of his own pastry, handing it to Morgana who ate it happily.

“I can’t give you chocolate, despite everything you’re still a cat, and that shit will kill you, dude.” With another huff Morgana retreated back into the bag as the three began their walk towards school, talking about the weekend. By the time they made it to the steps, Akira had long forgotten about the strange yet familiar voice that had called for him.

\----

Akira was now regretting not eating his morning curry and not getting enough sleep. Staring at his test made zero sense to him. He remembered learning about the French Revolution last year, but like he remembered fuck all about it this year. Morgana didn’t help him anymore, persisting he needed to learn by himself, Morgana go do what cats do during the day, whatever that meant. At least Morgana had allowed Sojiro to go get him chipped just in case. What was he thinking about again? Oh right the French Revolution, fuck.  
_Okay let’s just take this one step at a time._ He thought to himself looking at the question. _What is one of the factors that led to the French Revolution….shit._____

_ _ _ _ Another agonizing twenty minutes later the bell rang for lunch and Akira slumped over onto his desk to rest. Ann, who still thankfully sat in front of him, turned around with an expression of pity on her face._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ “Are you dead, glorious leader?” she said with her usual playful tone, resting her elbow on her chair. Akira looked up, exhaustion slowly consuming him._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ “Do you think Caroline or Justine would’ve known this stuff, considering the guillotine they used on the Persona’s?” Akira asked, rubbing his face. Ann shrugged._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ “Maybe, but they didn’t know much about our world already, I doubt they know the history…” Ann paused, looking into the distance for a moment before speaking again, “Have...have you been back to the Velvet Room at all by the way?” Losing their Persona’s had taken a toll on all of them. Not being the Phantom Thieves anymore had taken a toll on all of them. It was like losing a best friend that knew you inside and out, an extension of you. There had been no Velvet room for Akira or any of them since then, the entire connection just gone. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ With a heavy heart Akira shook his head. Ann nodded sadly, giving Akira a look of understanding, “Maybe one day they’ll come back.” She says quietly before getting up to go grab some food, leaving Akira alone in the classroom with a few other faces that talked with one another. He grabbed his own lunch from his bag, pulling it out to start eating, thanking himself he’d made it the night before. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ Taking a look outside he could see rain clouds starting to form in the sky, and cursed himself for forgetting an umbrella, Sojiro had mentioned something about rain on the way out. Looking back towards the courtyard he caught a glimpse of a familiar fire, a burning desire that nobody else seemed to notice, and it called for him._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ “Arsene-!” Akira started, jumping out from his seat, but as the first few raindrops began to fall against the window, the fire burned out, leaving Akira to stare outside, pondering what he had just seen._ _ _ _


	2. Chapter 2

It had been almost twenty minutes since school had gotten out for the day and Morgana was annoyed. He’d hidden just next to the sign by the stairs, this was where him and Akira always met. Akira would meet Ann and Ryuji at the gate, come grab Morgana, then walk to the station together. This how it had been going for the past month now. So why had Akira not shown up? The students had gone and went and the rain continued to pour, the poor saps who had forgotten their umbrella’s running past and splashing him more than once.

Morgana continued to grumble for a few more minutes, the rain from earlier had not helped, and he was not in the mood to continue to be soaked. Finally having enough he jumped from his cover and ran up the stairs towards Shujin’s doors where he could see Ann and Ryuji furiously texting. Ann saw Mona first and her eyes widened in surprise as she leaned down to pick him up. 

“Morgana? What are you doing here, where is Akira?” Ann asked, getting Ryuji’s attention as he looked over at the two as Morgana was lifted to eye contact. 

“Well, I was waiting for Akira, but he just up and left me! I didn’t even see him in the crowd of students and their stupid umbrellas!” Morgana shivered, but gave a thankful smile as Ann scratched behind his ears. 

“We didn’t see him either, but after school we got this message.” Ryuji spoke up, turning his phone around to show the message from Akira in the group chat. “Emergency meeting, Persona related.”

\----

Akira walked into Leblanc, his mind racing with thoughts, doubts, and possibilities. If what he had seen was reality, then something was very wrong, Arsene must have been trying to get in contact with him, and if this was true, what of his friend’s Persona’s? Of Justine, Caroline, and Igor? What had really happened back at that final fight?  
A hand landed on Akira’s shoulder shaking him. Akira looked up at the older man, Sojiro, blinking a bit in surprise. The older man gave a worried look, looking back over at the two customers in the shop. 

“Hey, Akira, you okay? You didn’t even react when I said welcome back…” Sojro said, walking Akira over towards the stairs where they had some privacy from most of the ears, and so Sojiro could keep an eye on the kitchen. 

“I’m sorry Sojiro. Just had a lot on my mind today,” Akira said, _it's technically not a lie_ Akira thought to himself, “I’m going to try and have my friends come over, is that alright? I have something I need to talk to them all about.” Akira asks, despite everything he doesn’t wanna piss off Sojiro with unexpected rush of people. The owner nods, giving a small smile knowing he was alright.__

_ _“Of course, just don’t bother the customers that are already here. You know the rules. I’ll be closing up soon so make sure everyone gets home on time.” Sojiro says, starting to walk back as a small group of two come in and seat themselves. Akira watches him, taking a step back before turning his back on the cafe and walking upstairs to his room, opening his texts to send the emergency meeting message and face planting onto his bed, letting out a long sigh, trying to think back to that fight._ _

_ _ _That fake Igor...the Holy Grail...then Yaldabaoth, some sort of God. It had to have taken them away, why now, why are they only returning now? I need some sort of explanation, or they’ll never forgive me. I need a plan_. Akira thought, running his hands through his unkempt dark hair, not even noticing the lack of Morgana’s voice. It would be a few more minutes before anyone could show up, except maybe for Futaba.__ _ _

_ _ _ _“Akira! What the fuck?!” Ah, speak of the hermit and she shall appear. Akira looks up from his bed, seeing the red head-orange head?-girl looking at him, phone in hand and clearly out of breath. Akira stifled a laugh as he sat up._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“Like I said, emergency meeting. I’ll explain everything once everyone is here but all you need to know is that it’s about out Persona’s, I-I don’t want to promise anything but-” Futaba held a hand up._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“Then don’t promise! Don’t say anything else, just shut up and wait. I’m eager to know but I can tell you want all of us to know together.” she says, taking a seat on the couch, checking her phone for messages. From Akira’s view Futaba’s face suddenly scrunched up, then she looked around then straight at Akira with a look of murder. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“Uh..Futaba?”_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“Where is Morgana, Akira?”_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“...Oh shit.”_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _\----_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _Haru was the last to show up. Walking into Leblanc she saw Sojiro cleaning up as he turned to see which friend had walked in last._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _"Ah there you are. The rest are upstairs, it’s good to see you Haru. Could you let the others know I’m heading home? I’ll leave whatever’s going on with you all.” Sojiro starts walking from the counter towards the door. Haru moves out of the way, heading about halfway in before turning around to face him._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“I’ll try and come in next week with fresh ingredients, it’s always good to see you anyways Mr. Sakura.” she says quickly, rushing upstairs before hearing the man’s reply, and the sound of the door closing._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _Haru walked up the stairs where she saw the others. Makoto, Akira, Yusuke, Ryuji, Ann, Morgana, and Futaba. The others were conversing with each other but as soon as Haru showed up they all stopped. Haru began to worry as she took a seat with Futaba, who was busy scratching Morgana’s ears. Futaba had turned to look at Akira though, who took a deep breath and stood up._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“Alright so,” he started, “I saw Arsene.” Haru could only watch as everyone exploded, everyone getting up from their seats in an explosion of excitement and emotions. Ryuji jumped in the air, Ann grabbed hold of the nearest person, Makoto who was shaken with excitement but her face lit up in joy, Yusuke the ever odd fellow, did something unusual for him and scribbled all over a piece he had been working on. Either out of shock or surprise Haru couldn’t tell. Futaba simply held Morgana up, jumping around and waving the poor cat around. Haru was surprised and excited as well, but her eyes were on Akira who simply stood still as he watched the others. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _The noise died down as everyone slowly looked back at Akira for more news. Haru watched as Akira sat back down, everyone else doing the same._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“Anything else man?” Ryuji asked, placing a hand on Akira. And Haru decided to make a small mental note as Akira’s eyes shot into a small panic as the blonde boy touched him. _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“Unfortunately no,” Akira started, the rooms mood deflating a bit, “But I felt this was important to share with you all anyways. If..if there is a chance then I want us all to be cautious, listen, watch everything a bit more closely. I think that final battle that we had something happened, they were taken but not lost.”_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“So you think because you saw Arsene that our Persona’s were taken, stolen, whatever…?” Makoto asks. Akira nods, looking up at her._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“I mean, we were basically fighting God.” Ann says, furrowing her eyebrows, thinking this all over._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“It’s not out of the realm of possibility. That a Persona could be stolen,” Morgana pipes up, jumping onto the table, “It’s what Akira did, taking Persona’s. Who’s to say that somebody else would have this ability?” The room went quiet as realization dawned on their faces._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“So...what you’re saying is that somebody stole our Persona’s, or hell-even multiple people now have our Persona’s.” Ryuji started, leaning forward a bit. Yuseke looked up towards the group, head resting on his hands._ _ _ _

_ _ _ _“Then the question we should be asking is...who?”_ _ _ _


End file.
